“He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye. “
Buddha
Making a play is hard work. So why do we do it? Why do we come back, time after time, often sacrificing family and friends, sometimes money, and even health, to spend our precious time creating this thing, this work? Sometime during the rehearsal process we (the actors, director, producers, etc.) often find ourselves wondering, “What am I doing? Is this really worth it?” But there comes a point, usually during the first performance, when realization dawns, when a strange mix of serenity and adrenaline flows, and we know, without a doubt, it was all worth it. William Ball, the great stage director and founder of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, describes the moment this way:
“When all of the actors believe in what they are doing and all members of the audience believe in what they are witnessing, we have all component parts believing something at the same time. The actors believe one another, each actor believes himself, each spectator believes each actor, everyone is believing at the same time. All component parts are in harmony. When all component parts are in harmony, we have the possibility of a work of art—we have unity.”
And why does the audience member come back, time after time? At some point, he is completely drawn in and forced to abandon his own thoughts, his concerns for his present and future. He is instead captivated by what he is witnessing and believing it. And to use a word coined by Aristotle, it is an enormously “cathartic” experience.
Ball continues on to say, “These moments of unity, in which the audience and the actors are one, are the very purpose and reward of drama. Theatre people will endure considerable hardship and suffering in hopes of attaining even a few moments of this unity.”
So this is why we do it. We toil and sacrifice in the hopes that we are creating a work of art—something that will unify and uplift. Because, as Publilius Syrus wrote in the 1st century B.C., “Where there is unity there is always victory.”
-Courtney Knight, Stories in Concert Resident Director
Tags: General by Courtney
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